Lukas Podolski reaffirms our faith in footballers

The Polish-born German national team striker played for FC Köln from the age of ten, but was begrudgingly sold in 2003 when Bayern Munich turned up with an irresistible €10m cheque. When the arrival of Luca Toni pushed him down the pecking order in Munich, however, Podolski returned to his childhood club for a similar €10m fee. Such was the Cologne fans’ love of their returning hero that they set up a website in order to raise money to fund the re-signing.

Since his return to North Rhine-Westphalia, Podolski has reciprocated the love shown to him by fans. Last night, FC Köln caused an upset in the DFB-Pokal cup (the German equivalent of the FA Cup) when they knocked out current Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg. To show his appreciation to fans, Poldi waved a huge FC Köln fans’ flag on the pitch, and then proceeded to climb over the security fencing to personally thank the home fans. After the game, he said:

“I wanted to thank the fans for the amazing atmosphere. Many will go to work tomorrow, having paid a lot of money to be here.”

It sounds sentimental, but The Spoiler is glad there are still professional players out there who will go out of their way to show their appreciation for the unrelenting support they receive.